I now run Gentoo Linux on my machine. It runs great for now, although I tend to do my "emerges" before going to bed. :)

People complain that emerge distances the user from the machine and that newbies are excited because they're compiling stuff where they're doing nothing but run a script. It's true, but anything to make sure newbies don't go back to windows, eh?

I for one didn't switch back this time. It's about the 10th time I try out linux and one every previous attempt, I switched back to Microsoft Windows the following month. So two months for me is a record and that shows how much linux has matured.

Business

I'd like to start a business dealing with open source software. I'd like it to be community based, like a cooperative with members, but also to service the open source community. I'm gathering my ideas these days and I'll see where that idea goes. I'll talk more about it when I'm ready. In the meantime, I'll keep coding in c# for my boss' closed source, highly expensive software! :(

So much happened to me while the server was down and I badly needed to write something here. Where's a good friendly server when you need it, huh? :)

Linux

Well I first configured my linux box to a confortable level. Nice resolution, nice refresh rate, good old french canadian keyboard layout. It wasn't that easy, I'm still pretty much a newbie running Debian!

Corporate World

I was in a total shock after seeing The Corporation, an I still am. The only hope I have is that I know I can do something to help our society.

After much thought, I took the decision that I will start an open source business. How, when, what will it do? No great idea yet. I'm still a little green behind the ears and need to educate myself a little more. I need to refine my ideas and then create a business model that'll allow me to eat everyday. Their is a way, and I'll find it.

The basis for my business is to manage to harness the power of the community. Hey, maybe I'll write an article on that later!

Word puzzle

I'm writing a educational game for my wife for her master's degree in educational technologies. It's basically a story with mixed words and you have to put them back in order. Very simple. Once done, I'll make it open source. There, that'll be my first contribution ever!

I saw the documentary "The Corporation" yesterday and I recommend it to anyone. It's a big eye opener on the sad state of Corporate America (and Canada too).

Being that corporations are considered "legal persons" in front of the law, the same caracteristics that you find in psycopaths can be also found in corporations, namely incapacity to experience guilt, no respect for others, etc...

My own thoughts

I've always wondered how corporations would find the means to keep growing. In today's economy, corporations exist for the sole purpose of making their shareholders make money. They also have to keep growing, making profits quarter after quarter. They also have to keep a growth percentage month after month!

Take Microsoft for exemple, they saturated the market. How can they possibly get bigger?

Well, the documentary gave me a glimpse of the future. In my opinion, it starts with convergance (spelling?). Microsoft, with it's rebranded Palladium and with it's .Net platform, are in the process of rewriting their software so we can use it with a monthly fee. How? With web services! I remember hearing about that years ago, and it's finaly becoming true.

With everyone hooked to their product and paying a monthly subscription fee, that ought give their revenues a big boost. Oh, how the shareholders will be happy!

Ranting about it is not gonna change a thing!

which is why I'll stop.

I use linux now.
I intend to be a part of the open source movement, which is one front of the "war" against corporations in general. We have to be an alternative, because one day, everything will be owned by a company.

Is there such a thing as an open-company, one that is controled, not by greedy shareholders, but by the community?

hub: Hey, I'm from Montreal, Quebec. Good luck with immigration! I'm going through the process myself, being married to an American.

What a day

I almost reached a milestone today in my project at work today. I told my boss, and he's expecting a demo tomorrow. Right after he left, I found a major bug that could take a while to fix. I feel like I was running the last few meters (or yards) of a marathon and discovering I had two miles left.

Oh well...

Mono

Mono beta 1 is out! I think the .Net platform is great and to see it coming to life on Linux is even greater! Good job to those who worked on it. I can't wait to use it! I can't wait to help!

At least, the first step to becoming a helper is completed. Linux is installed and working! :)

Linux

Lots to read...
Not feeling confortable with it yet. Psychologists should right about the Linux Culture Shock... You know, just like when you travel. The first thing you experience is awe. Everything is a new extrordinary experience. Then comes the depression (usually when most people quit and go back home... or Windows). Finally, you adapt.

work work work...
I've been working about 9 hours a day, seven days a week, for the last 3 weeks. It's mainly a proof of concept that I have to show a client on Wednesday. If they like, they buy! :)

On my time off, I managed to install Debian Unstable on my machine. Linux being Linux, I need to tweek my box so everything is perfect. Oh, and I also installed Mono. See, I program in C# at work and I love the .NET platform. Mono is something I'd like to contribute to simply because I believe in it.

And for the first time in my life, everything on my computer is legit! ;)

(how do I remove that project from my project list? It's a shame I ever put it there! I never did anything with it at all!!)

After two years, I still haven't found out how to delete the project I created in 2002... I've never really worked on it and don't plan to anymore.

I guess I'm flaky! :)

I would like to contribute to the opensource world after abusing it for so long. First, by installing Debian on my machine. Then, by helping the development efforts on Mono, which I think is great, being a fan of the .NET platform.

But I'm also a thinker (or I try to be, anyway). Outsourcing is bound to become a problem eventually, until we find a way to adapt (like we adapted when the computers came around... people ranted that computers were stealing their jobs). How are you supposed to become a project manager when you need experience for that job and those jobs are being outsourced (somebody here had an article on that recently)? Sure, you need public skills and personnality, but you still need those technical skills.

The answer: the opensource movement. Here is where we can find wisdom, knowledge and experience (no, no public speaking skills, sorry).

Wow... it's been a while! I remember, two years back,
telling nymia to keep up the good work with her diaries
entries.

Two years without keeping the community informed of my
doings, without even having a project! But you may know
how it is to be studying computer science or working for a
software company. When I get home, sometimes the last
thing I want to do is sit in front of yet another monitor.

So what's been happening with me? I got my undergradutate
degree last december and started a master degree in
computer graphics.

Do I have a project? Yes, I do!!
I love computer graphics and I thought the only way to get
all the basics rooted in my head was to create an open
sourced modeliser/renderer.. kinda like Maya.

I'll keep you informed about that, but most of my time is
spent studying or coding for my master degree project.

I've taken the sourcecode of glTron, another
Tron clone that looks really great and hope it will help me
a little in my quest for my first game ever! I decided to
use exclusively GLUT for the moment, but as soon as my
skills in Xlib programming get high enough, I'll try to use
that library instead of GLUT.

At work, I managed to fix a bug! But the fix created another
one. Grrrrr...